CustomHT.com is offering a very unique product to the Home Theater addict. And let’s face it that’s what we are. For this Home Theater addict, it’s something I would not have thought about getting. This disc is just plain “Kewl”. First I’ll tell you about the disc I have then I’ll tell you about some of the different configurations that you can get to more personalize the disc for yourself.
The disc arrived in a clear soft plastic CD/DVD case. There is no cover art or obviously an insert. But that’s ok because imprinted on the disc it’s self is the personalized name of your Home Theater which you pick when ordering. First, if you have a 4:3 TV make sure your DVD player is set at 4:3 Letterbox or Widescreen. This disc is in the wides screen formate of 16:9. When the disc starts to play be prepared to turn the volume down! For 95% of all the DVD’s I play I set the volume between –15db and –12db (I have my Outlaw Preamp Processor with Outlaw Amp). My system is calibrated at 78db when volume is at 0. Very rarely do I need to adjust the volume beyond these settings. However, others may think the sound is OK for the type of product.
First you sit through about 10 seconds of Holland Graphics Design and your obligatory Legal Notice. After that comes the CustomHT.com graphic and a spinning film reel. After a couple of seconds the reel stops spinning, the sound stops and you get to a menu which has two options. Option 1 is “10 Minute Count Down” and Option 2 is “Short Countdown”.
First I’ll start with the “Short Countdown” and give you a play-by-play. It takes just over 4 minutes to play through. It’s starts off with a very well done “Flying DVD” sequence. The disc is flying down from the sky and into the theater. From there the disc smashes through filmstrips which are counting down the seconds. With each one you get the sound of glass breaking. Up to this point, the 5.1 surround sound is very well done but here there could have been a little better usage of the rear speakers. This goes into an explosion, which is very bass heavy and up comes the title “Anderson Home Theater”. Also, a professional sounding announcer says, “Welcome to the Anderson Home Theater”. An extremely very well done sequence. You can see this entire sequence on the CustomHT website.
Next up are four CGI animated shorts. The first is dancing concession items encouraging you to get some mouth water treats lasting approximately 27 seconds. Second is one that reminds you not to litter lasting approximately 17 seconds. Third is one that tells you to turn off cell phones and beepers lasting approximately 15 seconds. When I first heard this short with the ringing phone, I thought mine was ringing Great sound! The fourth and last short shows a reclining soda cup and popcorn bag getting ready to watch the show in a Home Theater. The same announcer says, “Frank and Susan invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy the show”. This option is of course completely customizable. You may customize the disc to say, “We now invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy the show”.
After the CGI shorts the Flying DVD sequence starts over again. Lastly a Feature Presentation graphic with the announcer saying, "And now the Anderson Home Theater is proud to bring you our feature presentation”. I found all the CGI animation cute and the graphics very well done. It certainly gives you a feeling of being in a large public theater. I really think this disc is kewl as h***!
Now on to the “10 Minute Count Down”. It’s starts off the same as the short version with the Flying DVD sequence but the announcer ends saying, “Welcome to the Anderson Home Theater. The show starts in 10 minutes”. From there it goes to one of ten different trivia questions that play throughout the ten minutes. Each lasting about 30 seconds before the answer comes up. Of course all of them have appropriate elevator music playing in the background. Mixed in with the trivia questions are the four CGI shorts seen in the “Short Countdown" and Industrial Countdown graphics reminding you that the show starts in 8, 5, 2 and 1 minutes. Also throughout are mixed 10 movie posters sequences (each lasting approximately 30 to 40 seconds) with moving/animated graphics and their appropriate theme music. On my disc I got Star Wars, Grease, Batman, Matrix, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca, Jaws, Die Another Day, Fellowship of the Ring and Austin Powers. It of course ends with the Flying DVD sequence and Feature Presentation announcement. An outstanding 10-minute montage. Anytime you’re going to show a movie for a few friends this will certainly give everyone time to get settled, chat a while and give a more professional feel to your Home Theater presentation.
Now about the different configurations. I have what’s called the Flying DVD Style. There are five others to choose from: Hollywood, Wild West, Theater, Art Deco and Live Footage. There are two different countdown styles, I have Industrial, there is also on called Fantasy and one not yet released called Star-toon. You can have a combo of trivia questions and mix of movie posters (like I have) or all posters. And there are almost 50 different posters to choose from! You can specify if you want the announcer or not AND the announcer can be a celebrity impersonation. You can hear and see all of this on the CustomHT website or get a Demo Disc (for a small fee) sent to you.
The only thing I could suggest to add would be movie trivia facts in addition to the questions. Also, I don’t know if it’s possible, but how great would it be if the disc randomly played ten out of a hundred trivia questions (or facts) ten out of almost 50 posters each time you played it? All in all an outstanding product and one that I will get later on, completely personalize for me. Something else to feed your HT addiction.
Frank Anderson
Hometheaterforum Administrator
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...213&groupid=10
Link to CustomHT
